EP Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 24.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 27,916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,074,000 after buying an additional 5,431 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 79,334 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,658,000 after purchasing an additional 4,032 shares in the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its stake in Reliance by 4.1% during the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 86,406 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,989,000 after buying an additional 3,419 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Reliance by 38.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,068,000 after acquiring an additional 3,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC grew its holdings in shares of Reliance by 439.6% during the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 14,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,063,000 after purchasing an additional 11,589 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE RS opened at $301.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $263.80 and a 52 week high of $342.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $303.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.31.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.66 by ($0.02). Reliance had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. Reliance’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on RS. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $328.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other news, Director Mark V. Kaminski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.01, for a total transaction of $1,490,050.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,420,491.79. This trade represents a 27.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,724 shares of company stock worth $6,856,500 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Profile

Reliance, Inc operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and the metals service center company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products; and provides metals processing services to general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics and semiconductor fabrication, and heavy industries.